Not So Bad

We survived, we camped and I dare say we had fun. The camp site was an island, we had canoes and fishing gear, the moms organized a treasure hunt and scavenger hunt, there was plenty of food and besides a lack of sleep everything went smooth.
There was a forecast of rain this weekend and when we pulled into the camp ground office that forecast came true. It was like God flushed the toilet, an unbelievable amount of water over a short period of time. While Heidi was checking in there was a flash of lighting, I got out of the truck and pulled a tarp from under the gigantic pile of camping gear and just as the first soft ball sized drop of rain hit the pavement I got our bedding and clothes covered. By the time I got back in the truck I was soaked to my underpants but a disaster was dodged.
We sat in the parking lot for twenty minutes hoping the deluge would subside and when it did we went looking for our site. When we found it, our camping mates were soaked, but our bedding and supplies were dry. We set up camp, the sun came out, and the kids had a great time, fishing canoing and camping.
Alls well that ends well.

Party

We are having a PARTY! We rented a hall, hired a DJ, and invited all our friends. If you are in the area Saturday 12/22 and want to dance, drink and be merry shoot me an email and I will fill you in on the details.

Bits and Pieces

Moving through life I am confronted with many interesting, thought provoking episodes. In the past I would stop, make a note and bring a coherent post to this little blog.

Life has really picked up speed and I can't seem to take the time to pull over and make a note. The lessons are lost to me. I can remember three or four times in the last six weeks that I thought about slowing down the train to make a note of a situation. Thinking isn't doing and the moments are lost.

Halloween is fast approaching and on many levels feels as though it is already here. Is there another Holiday that last this long? It started with David's fourth birthday party,10/18, the theme was Super Heroes, the point is costumes. The following Saturday 10/20, our first Halloween party. The town hosts a Halloween parade, which we marched in 10/26. Next the businesses downtown give out candy, that happened 10/27 and then there is 10/31, Halloween. Can't get here soon enough. There is another holiday, Hanukkah, that lasts as long.

The hard part about being a Red Sox fan is staying up until 1:00 in the morning and still getting up to go to work. Thank God they swept and got it over with in a timely fashion. One night is not so bad, three nights in a row is torture.

The Patriots are destroying their competition. They won this weeks game 52 to 7, next week is the battle of the unbeaten and I do not think Indianapolis stands a chance.

Did I mention Boston College is ranked #2 in the nation. How about them Celtics?

What a great time to be a sports fan!

Camping

We went camping this weekend, the entire family went to NH and slept in a tent.

Merry and David thought it was great.

Thomas is too small to go camping. The terrain is rough and the distance are long on his little legs. "Up Daddy" was his mantra.

Mom went with the remnants of a stomach bug that spilled all over the inside of the tent Saturday night. Gross!

Thank God for the other couples, especially the organizers, they shopped for and prepared all of the food. They also provided the tent and made the arrangements. Their hard work is what made it bearable.

In all there were nine children ages 5 to 2 having a blast and four couples. I wish as an adult I had a better plan. Turns out there was more to do than stand down by the lake and cast the kiddie pole and reel it in. Caught the same rubber red fish maybe 987 times. Next Year will be better.

We did have some laughs around the campfire and I deepened some knew relationships. I do not believe that I offended anyone and that is good.

Next Year should be fun.

Easter Pics

With Thomas,

And With Out

As close as we could get.

That was Uncomfortable

We had some family and friends over Christmas night. One of the guest, a 15 year old cousin, brought along her boyfriend. The two children, young adults, made themselves very comfortable on the couch in the living room. The couch in the living room is a large sectional that can sit six adults easy. Last night there was room for two uncomfortable adults and two, very friendly, teenagers.

Everyone pretended not to notice the petting and fawning going on in the corner, everyone except for me. I felt uneasy, they acted as though everything was normal. Things were not normal. In the course of the evening I made three quiet comments, reminding them that the lights were still on, that they were not alone and that I was feeling a bit uneasy. These comments did not get their attention.

I couldn't take it anymore, I stopped the conversation looked directly at the two young lovers and told them in no uncertain terms that I could not take it anymore, that they should sit up and keep their hands to themselves. An uneasy silence settled over the room waiting for her response. My request was ignored. Nothing changed, the silence was deafening. My father and an Uncle awkwardly started talking and everyone pretended nothing happened. Sad, really.

If I ever find myself in a situation like that again I will ask "Romeo" to come in the other room and I will tell him the rules and the consequences for disobedience. Nobody, including me or my other guests will be embarrassed if it is handled in private.

This post was edited by my lovely wife in an attempt not to injure anyones feelings. Funny, how we worry about offending those whom offend. I do not get it. Worrying about offending the offenders is probably the reason they continue to offend.

My Santa

There is a lot of stress associated with Christmas, the kind of stress that I do not handle very well. Crowds of strangers make me mental, people standing in lines to buy things they do not want or need irk the hell out of me. When I am forced to stand in that line, I want to die.

I do not like to pull into the mall parking lot on a Wednesday in July, forget about during Christmas. Jockeying for a parking spot is not a sport I wish to involve myself in. I do not understand the rules of parking at the mall. I see cars tailing people as they walk out, following along behind as they make their way to their car. Waiting as they load up and pull out, only to have the spot grabbed by an old lady pulling in from the other direction. I do not get it and I certainly do not want to be a part of it.

When I was single I would put it off and put it off. Why do today what I could put off until tomorrow? The last tomorrow at this time of year is Christmas Eve, every year I would be at the mall on Christmas Eve scrambling to buy some piece of garbage for everyone on my list. A shirt here, some cologne there, maybe a pair of gloves or a watch or who knows what. Buying presents has never been a strong suite for me.

After the purchase, on Christmas Eve, I still had to get Mom's flower sweater wrapped. The waves of anxiety associated with Christmas were relentless. Hopefully my sister would be home, if she were, I could pay her to wrap my presents, if not, they would be easy to open.

My Santa came into my life just over ten years ago. My Santa handles all of the ugly details when it comes to the niceties that are expected during this Holiday season. My Santa is my wife Heidi and I am thankful for her. My job is to make sure there are cookies and milk under the tree, that I can do.

Trees

We got the trees up early this year. They have been dropping needles for two weeks now and are starting to look a little thin. Below is the photo evidence of the Christmas tree hunt and set up at The Old Blue House 2006.

Princess

Friday, following her morning obligations the princess will head to the Salon to have her hair, toes and fingers attended to. Her "Knight in Shining Armour" will pick her up and whisk her off to the city.

They will tour the Museum of Science and then head to the The Ritz for the evening. They will sit for a formal dinner and then rest. Saturday will be a very busy day.

After brunch, they will search for an appropriate dress for a princess to wear to the The Nutcracker. There are many fine clothiers on Newbury Street in Boston and I am sure the highest levels of service will be provided.

After the show its back to The Ritz for dinner and an evening with Dora The Explorer. Sunday, after brunch they will head back up to the North Shore and retrieve the princesses not so special little brother.

Little Lord Fauntleroy and his Princess sister will have an audience with Old St. Nick himself. Enjoy a dinner at The Club, and then get dropped off at home to once again be reunited with their parents, littlest brother, dogs, and the avalanche of "No's" that come when the world is no longer your play ground.

You Better Be Good

The Holiday season has officially begun at The Old Blue House. The Christmas trees are up, that is right, plural, we got a Charlie Brown tree for the kids and another for the Mom. The kids have taken over Mom's tree too.

All of the boxes were dragged from their resting place in the attic, their contents are displayed around the home and it is good. I love to bitch and moan but the finished product is great. The Carollers, Santa's and Angel's are all happy to be back on display.

I got the fireplace set up for another season of fires, and I started splitting and stacking the wood. Even had a fire, the first of the season. Burning firewood heats you up three times. First, when you split it, second, when you stack and third, when you burn it.

I jogged Sunday morning further than I have jogged in 15 years. I went all of four miles, 25% further than I have been jogging. It just about killed me, that one extra mile felt like ten.

The Patriots beat Detroit by the hair on their chiny, chin, chins. Heidi brought the Tutus to a home show in town. Merry, David and I watched Micheal Baryshnikov(?) dance the Nutcracker on PBS. Merry loved it and David was entertained watching Merry copy the dancers moves. Bedtime was a breeze.

Then sitting in my chair, watching Sunday night Football on NBC, in front of a blazing fire, I was overtaken by a terrible chill. It rocked me right to my core, the kind of chill that has terrible illness associated with it.

I staggered upstairs, put on my sweats, brushed my teeth and along with my daily vitamins took a "Get Well Soon" pill. I was under the covers by 8:30 pm. It was an uncomfortable night, alternating between sweats and chills. When the alarm went off this morning I felt fine, catastrophe avoided. Thank you, Arbonne. I sort of wonder what is in those pills, sort of.

Pick a Card

Merry Christmas Blog-O-Sphere

The Long Weekend

Wow, that was a long four days. I am happy to be back at work, as crazy as that sounds.

The first thing is that bloglines has not picked up my feed for the last couple of posts, this annoys me.

Second, The Clam Diggers lost the annual Turkey Day Football game. It was not due to lack of effort, just manpower. Some of our most potent weapons did not make it this year and we were over matched in the athlete department. My hamstrings and triceps are just now recovering. Four days of stretching and they are still uncomfortable. All that jogging did not help much as far as I can tell. I do not like to lose the annual Turkey Day football game.

Third, my children really got on my nerves yesterday and by all accounts are lucky to still be alive. My breaking point came when a dispute erupted over who deserved possession of a pink, magic wand. Merry and David embarked on an epic battle that resulted in me taking the wand, snapping it over my knee and putting it in the trash.

My action towards the wand united the two combatants against a common foe and the the crying, whining, pulling, pushing, chasing and hitting transformed into telling Mom how bad Daddy was. Bad Daddy! Happily. I do not like losing my patience with my children.

My respect for my wife and her patience was fortified yesterday. Living with "Wrongside" and his contrarian point of view is very trying, I probably would be making those "get home as soon as possible or I am going to run away" phone calls too, if I were under his assault of "No's" and "I don't want to's" all day.

I also learned that sometimes I need to take a deep breath, slow down and take control, instead of being swept into the vortex of toddler / pre-school energy that takes over everything in its path. It is very easy to get swept up in its energy, stepping back is tough but necessary. When you slow them down they are much easier to control. I like getting control of my children and I like being reminded how to do better.

Two other things that happened over the long weekend that I liked are Heidi signed on another business builder to her down line and I got all the leaves in my yard picked up.

In conclusion, that makes four "likes" to three "don't likes" another positive weekend in the books. It was close though.

Thanksgiving song

I'm a little Indian on the go,
Here is my arrow,
Here is my bow,
When I go out hunting hear me shout,
Bears and Buffaloes
You better watch out!

Does not seem like a great song for a hunter to be singing but my pre-schoolers love it. I have found it to be very catchy and have been humming along all day.

It's not that Bad

I went to the Barber shop today and the man with the shears got me thinking. We were talking about the state of the world we live in and how messed up he perceives it to be and how he is glad he is on his way out and how he is glad he is not responsible for raising a family in these trying times and blah, blah, blah.

You have to be careful how you address the man with the shears, so in a polite manner I reminded him that when he was raising his family the Soviet Union had missiles parked 90 miles off the coast of Florida. I reminded him that they practiced ducking under their desks at school to avoid nuclear annihilation. I reminded him that kids were being drafted into war, I reminded him that Presidents were being impeached.

The generation before his dealt with the WWII, you do not experience bigger problems than World War. The generation before that had WWI and so on and so on. Things do not change, man is inherently a vile beast that strives to conquer and enforce his will. There has never been a time when Man has not been engaged in war.

We do not have problems, Madonna's baby's daddy has problems. We live in the most powerful nation on the planet. When you are at the top, people want to knock you off, it is the nature of man.

Be thankful this holiday season for the things you have, even the problems. I read recently that a life with out problems is not a life at all. You just want to be dealing with the appropriate problems. When you solve those there is another set waiting for you if you are lucky.

Be thankful for the soldiers that make up our Armed forces. This volunteer force is the best trained and equipped fighting force on the planet. I am glad that they are on our side. Pray for them to achieve their mission and return home safe to their families.

Be thankful for our Democracy and its ability to adapt to the will of the people. There is not another Nation on the Planet as free and flexible as the U.S. of A. and I for one am glad I was born one of her citizens.

For me it starts at home, in high school they used to say "Think Globally and act Locally" it does not get more local than family and friends. This Thanksgiving will be spent with those closest to me. We will play, eat, drink and watch football:

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Two Hand Touch?

My mom is the second child of a small Irish Catholic family in the northern suburbs of Boston. All of her siblings have at least three and as many as ten children. Growing up, this mass of humanity got together every Sunday at Gramma's house.

The boys would play kill the man with the ball, wiffleball, football, soccer or just plain tackle until and after someone cried. The girls would work out dance routines and the parents would sit around a table, tell stories, argue, and drink until and after someone cried.

There are over 30 first cousins spread across the country and we no longer get to see each other every Sunday. The cousins all have their own families and the logistics are very complicated. However Thanksgiving is a day that a majority of the family gets back to the North Shore.

On Thanksgiving Morning we meet on the turf of Emerson Field in Peabody and play, we play like we are 12 years old and that our future depends on Victory. The teams generally fall along the same lines as they always have.

Each year there are add ons and fall aways depending on the dating situation of the younger cousins. There are players who may miss a couple years due to family obligations or work. The constant is we all know, no matter where we are in life that on Thanksgiving Morning, people we love will be battling it out.

I would like to give a special thanks to Deits for calling this blog out to all of the cousins. We have yet to hear from Bobby but are looking forward to his return. I spent last season on the sidelines due to a bit of a knee problem. My knee is better, I have been jogging and I am ready to KICK SOME ASS.

The Mall Rats vs The Cape Ann Clam Diggers is a classic along the lines of Army vs Navy and Harvard vs Yale. It is a natural rivalry dating back to the late seventy's. Go Diggers!

Halloween 2006

Tigger Thomas tickling the ivories for our listening pleasure.

Princess Merry, probably waiting for a servant to bring her some cake, "the service in this castle is terrible!"
Buzz Lightyear, psyching himself up to save the world!

We had a great Halloween season at The Old Blue House.

Reunion

I was caught off guard by the emotion I felt when I first saw Merry, Thomas and Heidi at the Fort Meyers airport. Thomas looked so big, how could a kid grow so much in seven days? It looked as though he had put on 15 lbs. Merry's hair had grown, she looked older and Heidi was more beautiful than ever.

David was so excited to see his sister and Momma, big hugs and kisses were had all around. Merry, when she saw me, came running and jumped into my arms, I almost cried. Nanna was there to pick us up with a mini van that was perfect. The vacation was on, the weather was beautiful and we had nothing but time to enjoy it. We started that afternoon, swimming in Nanna's lagoon of a swimming pool. We beached it every morning and swam in the pool every afternoon, with three adults watching three children the parental obligations were manageable. Heidi and I got to go out to dinner a few times. It was a terrific vacation for a family with three children, aged 4 and under.

Thank you Nanna for such a wonderful time, your hospitality and help with the kids was great. Everyday I count my lucky stars for the tremendous family Heidi and I have been blessed with. Your patience and help with the kids over the last week made for a very relaxing, worry free week of Florida living for a family from the cold North East. I can't wait until next year!

Destroyed!

The verdict is in, David did not adapt and was destroyed! I believe my son had an action packed, adventure filled day, the likes of which, he will experience, again and again in his life. I am relieved that the adventure is over and that he will soon be back on schedule.

It has been tough coming home from work to a boy that is so tired by 5:00pm that he closes his eyes and isn't heard from again. We got home, I put him on the couch, covered him up, turned on all the lights, turned on Sesame Street and asked him every ten minutes or so, if he wanted to wake up and eat something.

I did not get a response until 8:30 when he woke up coughing. I jumped on the opportunity to get him upstairs, cleaned up, pajamas on and into bed. "I don't want to brush my teefth" got him out of brushing them. I will do a good job on his teeth in the morning, I promise.

We are getting up early and leaving for Florida to meet up with Mom, Merry, Thomas and Nanna. We are going to have a great time swimming and beaching in the warm spring sun. David and I miss the rest of our family and can not wait to be reunited.

If you purchase a tutu, or have any questions concerning your purchase The Tutu Boutique will remain in business even though Heidi and I are on vacation, isn't that cool? The power of the Internet.

Nanna has a computer so maybe there will be a "Sunshine State" post or two. Have a nice weekend and more importantly, fun at work next week.